North Korea has cast an uncomfortable shadow over the upcoming February 1st Kaesong Industrial Complex working group meeting, demanding a steep pay raise for North Korean workers in the Complex on the false basis that wage levels there fall far below those in industrial complexes of a similar sort in Vietnam and China.
On the 25th, North Korea’s online propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri released the North Korean authorities’ view; that the basic North Korean workers’ wage, $57, falls short of the international average, and suggesting, “The minimum cost of living for a family of four is more than $120, needed only to cover basic food and fuel costs.”
Accordingly, North Korea seems to be implying that a basic wage of $120 or more is needed.
South Korea had planned to use the meeting to discuss issues related to passage in and out of the Complex, communications, customs clearance procedures and lodgings for South Korean workers.
Therefore, skepticism as to whether or not the meeting is even feasible has emerged. Additionally, there is concern that these stark differences may be enough to detrimentally affect future inter-Korean relations.
The grounds to the North’s claim are the wage levels in Chinese and Vietnamese industrial complexes which North and South Korea conducted a joint inspection of in December.
However, the $57 figure which North Korea is citing is just a part of the real cost of each North Korean worker. Taking into account overtime pay, bonuses, and social insurance, which is 15% of the base pay, on average a North Korean worker receives $112 per month.
This wage is not noticeably lower than in other overseas complexes in China and Vietnam. Some Vietnamese companies actually pay their workers a lower wage than the Kaesong Complex.
Additionally, in the evaluation meeting which followed the joint inspection in China and Vietnam, North Korea raised issues of rent, taxes, insurance against industrial accidents and economic aid in addition to the wage issue.
This implies that North Korea only has an interest in getting hard currency, a tendency which is connected to the current situation. That is, the North needs dollars in order to bring about any improvement in people’s lives, which is their aim between now and 2012.
As a part of which, on the 14th North Korea also suggested a meeting on the 26th and 27th for the purposes, the North hopes, of negotiating the resumption of Kaesong and Mt. Geumgang tours, another hard currency earner, and on the next day accepted a South Korean aid offer of 10,000 tons of corn after angrily deriding the scale of the offer on previous occasions.
